Becoming an O/O with bad past

You are quite right Notarps4me. Unfortunately, at this point if your driving for a company anyway, they will not hire you without your voluntary compliance and consent.

Personally, my "pipe dream" is an industry where there are no company drivers and we are all o/o’s with our own authorities. Imagine if all the companies in this country had to deal with every pick up and delivery through an independent truck driver. Think Truckers might be more inclined to unite? I think so. The reason you can’t get Truckers to unite nowadays is because we are kept divided and thus, easy to conquer. Think about it. There’s a heck of lot more of us than them, right? However, the vast majority of us are driving for companies. Those companies set down policies, create regulations, and send lobbyists to Washington to support passage of laws which fit their agenda, not ours. They induce drivers to their camp by offering them brand new trucks with easy financing (of course attached to a 5 year contact working for them), let them work under their authorities, let them use their insurance carriers, then pay them crap and treat them with disdain for the most part.

O/o’s on the other hand, find their disportionately low numbers competing with the equally disportionately high numbers of company drivers. Truckers are kept divided, while the companies prosper. That’s the game! Even the Trucker Unions are ineffective for the most part. The problem is not that we "can’t even organize a picnic", the problem is we’ve been divided within the industry by our advisories, subsequently been rendered impotent, and aren’t even aware of it. My answer to the whole mess is to encourage every driver in America to save his nickels and dimes, get his/her own rig, own authority, insurance, etc., and only then will we begin to witness enormous major changes in the industry. Simply put, we gotta quit selling out to the competition.

I’d like to hear input from other drivers, both company and independent on this issue.

 

Wouldn't you think that even if this xanadu were to somehow be created, that pretty soon one of these guys would buy another truck and hire a driver - and here we go again?

A bad picnic is better than a good impotence.

 

Excellent point! That' why it's my "pipe dream". lol

 

You're a plumber with a degree in elecrical engineering?

If I were one of the parents who paid for that degree, and my little angel chose to drive a truck, I'd beat him to death with a big sack of compressed weed.

My suggestion - smoke a few joints, take a couple of high school english courses (quited?) put that engineering degree to work, and thank your lucky stars you were awakened from this nightmare while still young enough to do something else.

 

"D.A.C." also stands for "Don't Apply to Companies"! So don't, unless you are willing to be held to their standards and accept their agenda. Many Truckers find that relationship reasonable and reciprocally advantageous.


The way I see it though, there are "generally" three alternatives in this industry. One, work for the company (married to the company); two, owner operate (still basically married to the company, but own/lease all, or part, of the rig and contractually pay homage to the company); and three, be an independent owner/operator. I personally chose the latter. While circumstances certainly vary, all three postures are attainable. I am also acutely aware that most of us don't have the immediate luxury of just picking one of the three general categories and jumping in. However, with the proper honing of your business and carrier management skills, all are accomplishable.

My advice is, if you want to take more control over your carrier, then stop giving it away. If you like sharing the responsibility with a partner (the company) then don't be surprised when your partner sets down deal breaking limitations, as would you from your perspective. Should you find yourself powerless in the decision making process, then make the best of what's available and jump through whatever hurdles are necessary to accomplish your goals. Of course sometimes our previous actions have left us limited, at least in the short term. In any event, since it appears that you don't have much of a choice being forthright with your cannabis experimentation, if dealing with a "DAC" employer, then don't be afraid to file applications shotgun style. In other words, fill out every application you can get your hands on. Maybe some owner/operator will find your experience palatable and hire you. Worth a go!